Friday, January 30, 2015

I just started day 3 of incoporating this into my world. I'm kinda digging it so far. It costs nothing to make, I feel "healthier" (placebo effect?), and am definitely feeling Hydrated, with a capital H!

So yes, interested to hear who has tried this concoction.

2. Can we talk about a recipe I'm loving???

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I was craving buffalo wings from the bottom of my soul. It was either drive straight to BW3's and haus down before I even knew what happened…OR create something to slay the urge.

Remove chicken from broth. Shred with knife and fork. It should fall apart easily. Remove approximately half of broth and discard the remainer. Mix 1/2 of broth with hot sauce. Return chicken and sauce mixture to slow cooker and cook on high for another 30-45 minutes.

Serve in lettuce leaves and top with your likings. Obviously, I had no choice but to add low fat blue cheese crumbles.

This was ridiculously easy and super satisfying.

Do it up, yo's.

3. 24 Day Challenge Results

Just one little example as of late…. Hello, hotness.

Still contemplating the challenge? I have new people starting all the time. Whatchoo waiting for? I'm serious.

4. I may or may not be doing this again in a hot second.

Training runs on the beach??? Yes, please.

5. Some of my favorites around the webs this week.

Right???

Exactly. This also includes but is not limited to posting them on the Instagram…

Sunday, January 25, 2015

1. I'm still in love with Fabletics. Wanna talk about my latest goodies??

But First…. Let's take a selfie…

Just kidding…lemme tell you guys how Fabletics works...

Sooo… If you aren't sure how Fabletics works, it's similar to StitchFix. Only it's for athletic apparel. Pretty cute athletic apparel, I might add. Oh and way less moolah than Lulu or Athleta. Not that I don't love the Lulu and Athleta, cuz I certainly do. However, this is a nice change for sure. I'll be the first to say that the quality is not on the same caliber as Lulu. You get what ya pay for. However, it's good. And for the prices, it's definitely fair. Let's face it, Lulu's prices are seriously outta hand. They are. Not to say I don't still shop there because I can spot one in a 100 mile radius and own that place like a boss. However, this is a nice change for the moment. Plus, it won't make us poor like Lulu does.

The bottom line is, I'm addicted to athletic wear. I obvi wear it for it's intended purpose but I love it for running around town, running errands, and lounging around my casa. I'm actually surprised I waited so long to cave.

So here's the nitty gritty…..

If you haven’t heard about Fabletics, it’s the brainchild of the JustFab group to bring affordable, stylish workout gear via monthly subscription.

How it Works:

1. Fill out a Lifestyle Quiz – The answers you provide to the activities you enjoy, workouts you do most often and styles of activewear you normally wear will help personalize your monthly outfits.

If you are a Regular Member, you can choose what you want and shop whenever you like.

If you are a VIP Member*, you are offered complete outfits on a monthly basis that start at $49.95 (which qualifies for free shipping), 20% off individual items and Reward Points for purchases and referrals.

*VIP Membership is available to everyone and you can convert to VIP Membership from Regular at any time.

3. Monthly VIP Outfits: If you are a VIP Member you will be notified on the 1st of the month about your customized outfit options (chosen by Fabletics based on your lifestyle quiz answers).

You then have one of the following options that must be envoked by the 10th of the month or you will be charged $49.95 to be used as a future credit:

You can choose one of the special outfits chosen by Fabletics beginning at $49.95 and it will be sent to you with free shipping.

You can choose another combination of tops, bottoms, and/or accessories. If the items chosen are less than $49.95, a $4.95 shipping fee will be incurred.

You can skip buying any product that month with the click of a button.

What to Choose – VIP or Regular Membership?

Since it was free, easy to cancel and allowed me a skip a month without penalty or payment (which seems to be different than other monthly subscription services), I chose the VIP Membership.

Not sure what I'll do long term but for now, it's working.

Let's get down to biz…

Salar Leggings and Fremont Tank

This was $59 for both pieces. Yes, please.

I obviously had no choice but to go with the red draws. 'Specially since I ordered these the week that OSU dominated.

These are super comfy with a perfect amount of compression. I run around in these on the reg and will definitely be back for more colors. These also come in crops.

The top comes with thin pads and a built in bra. Not a ton of support so I usually wear the top on low impact days or strictly weights. LOVE the back of this and ordered a bra with the same back. Super cute and peeks out of shirts and sweatshirts, which I love.

Switch Back Tee

I purchased this a few weeks ago for $19.95. And I wear it non stop so the cost to wear ratio is legit pennies.

I threw on another tank so that you guys could see the back a little clearer. This is cozy, comfy, and perfect to throw on over a tank. I'm pretty sure these will be my BFF as we head into spring/summer. Perfect for over a tank when heading to the gym or yoga.

Y'all need dis.

I've got some new goodies coming the 1st of Feb. so obvi you guys will be the first to know.

2. Cauliflower Pizza Bake

Off the hizzle. The End.

I got the recipe from here… And then adapted it slightly.

The only thing I did was add a thin layer of sauce for ultimate enjoyment.

I also added a bunch of random Italian seasoning because I kinda had to. I used basil, a little garlic, thyme, and oregano.

If you follow me on the Insta, you already know… About this dreamy concoction. And if you don't…you've got some 'splainin' to do.

So yes, if you're on the cleanse, you know you can't have coffee. However, what you CAN have is this…. And it's legit. Similar kick that you're gonna get from Spark only warm, creamy, and wants to be coffee.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

SO WHAT if I drive around with the Annie soundtrack blaring and then sometimes suddenly realize that there are exactly zero kids in my car?! Anyone? So what if I don't even care and continue to belt out Hard Knock Life just like I did when I was 8?

SO WHAT if I sit in front of my Light Therapy Box for 30 minutes a day like a boss and I swear it's helping me..…think I'm in Aruba..…? Seriously though, I think it works friends. If you live in the tundra like me, do yourself an immediate solid and get yourself one of these. Use it every morning while you're checking emails and screwing around on the Facebook. You know I won't fail you.

SO WHAT if I don't know or care (is it even determined yet?!?) who is going to the Super Bowl? College football is over. I'm done.

Now if you're inviting me to a party with cute, special football snacks though...I might perk back up.

SO WHAT if I'm kinda obsessed with the relationship of Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden? Is this an odd pairing to anyone else? Not hating, but…. I kinda think Cameron is the new George Clooney and will not be walking down the aisle anytime soon. Ring or not. Sorry, Benj.

SO WHAT if my friends are drinking this special juice for 3 days straight and I kinda need to know every detail?? They're on day 2. Stand by for an update. The girls that work there are super hot with sparkly skin and eyes so I can only assume this juice is magical.

SO WHAT if I have a ton of returns to make and the thought of driving across town makes me wonder if there is a service for this type of hassle? Kidding.

Kinda.

Does anyone else hate returning as much as me? I would almost rather get stuck behind a moving Buick sedan. Both are equally time consuming.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

In my eyes, it's as if every situation warrants one. And then I stalk my friends and send them ridiculous memes half the live long day.

Memes about Chipotle, and Valentines Day, and pooping, and whether or not I should become poor and order Sorel riding boots… ya know....things like that.

These friends secretly love it doe. Ya can't hate on a random meme. Ya just can't.

2. The Weekend

Let's talk about it. Wanna?

AdvoNation Bishes!

It was awesome. And that's a facty.

My Advo soul sister and I last year…

2014

And this year..

2015

Can we talk about the caliber of people?? That's the thing about Advo. The peeps are like no other. And honestly, you can't help but to want to be a better peep when you're hanging out with these kinda peeps. So if anything, you roll outta AdvoNation filled with positivity and that's worth every second of your time, plus some.

So yes, it was really great and the other thing that's great? You 24 Day Challenge folks are rocking it, yo.

3. I'm Dirty

You guys, I did something bad.

I got my StitchFix shipping notification and then immediately ran to my computer and clicked on "Checkout" so I could see my goods before I got em. We all know opening the box is 75% of the fun.
Then I felt sad. And dirty.
It was the equivalent of that one time in 7th grade when I opened all of my Christmas presents and rewrapped them before my parents got home. Come to think about it, do my parents even know about this incident?
Hi Mom! #pleasedon'thatme,iloveyou.
But the box came today and I almost can't even open it because I already blew my wad.
#fwp's (obviously)

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

**SO WHAT if I'm obsesssed with making meme's with the "one does not simply" generator? For example, when my friend mentioned volunteering to pass out bibs at a race last weekend…I simply responded to the text with…

It's such a quick, articulate way to get your point across, ya see.

**SO WHAT if I may be close to dying?? From this mornings workout. Overhead squats kill me and I'm basically not even qualified to do them. But I kinda did.

And then I promptly made a collage in order to really drive my point home. Plus, anything involving Napoleon Dynamite pretty much makes me happy. So yeah, I somehow felt like I could lift your mom after this morning.

**SO WHAT if my kids have dentist appointments next week and I've somehow convinced the little one that the dentist is watching? Kinda like Santa, only scarier I guess because the only thing involved at the end is a crappy bouncy ball or slinky if you're lucky. No prezzies. Anyway, this dentist is apparently watching to make sure that she brushes for length of the whole alphabet. Oh and that she gets a good nights sleep. Because everybody knows the first question a dentist asks is if you're listening at bedtime.

Ps- Is that bad???

**SO WHAT if AdvoNation is going down this weekend and I'm just a little pumped?! Don't be scared...

Some of my team from last year…

**SO WHAT if my treadmill is not working and I'm on the verge of needing inpatient psychiatric treatment??? Possibly tomorrow. I've had the manual out, googled every problem possible, followed every instruction on how to solve what I think is the problem and no bueno. And lesbeeereal... There is negative zero chance that I can live like this. Pretty sure I've had this tready for 7 years so I'm thinking she may be dead. We're tight and she's got a million miles on her so saying goodbye almost feels like losing a pet. Okay not that horrific, but dang, I'm sad.

**SO WHAT if my next Stitchfix is supposed to be here tomorrow and I'm panicked that I haven't received so much as a "Your Fix Has Shipped!" notification!???? Clearly good reason to panic but seriously, where is the email!? And why does my fix still say it's coming tomorrow? Something isn't right friends. It's not.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Y'all know I can't throw up a post without at least mentioning our beloved Buckeyes.

Shum on!

What. A. Night!!! I was up way too late which equalled a slow moving day. It seemed that everyone that I interacted with today appeared to be in the same boat. A sleep deprvied city all around here in the C-Bus! Well worth it to witness such an awesome sight.

Oregon fans, #pleasedonthateme,iloveyou

Okeeee….

The Challenge! Where my party people!? How we feeling? According to the FB board, you guys are rocking! What about the rest of you? Lots of #allin-ers out there!

This recipe is courtesy of the Gracious Pantry and I've been seeing it all over the innerwebs lately.

It's currently simmering and then I'm taking it to the dome like a boss. Partly because I'm cold and this is gonna warm me up in a hot second.

Obviously, pic is GP's and not mine. Because obviously mine would look like the pic of a food blogger who was definitely getting fired in 5 minutes. (see previous post).

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce

1 pound green peas, OR 1 cup shredded carrot

1 large, red onion, chopped

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 (15 ounce) can light coconut milk

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium to large soup pot, brown the turkey in the olive oil.

Once the meat is browned, add in all other ingredients and simmer until the meat is fully cooked.

Super easy and it currently smells ridic. I bought my light coconut milk at Trader Joe's but any typical grocery store will have it. You're looking for the coconut milk in the can. Not the milk container. You can typically find it in the Asian food area.

What else?

If you follow me on the Insta, you know I'm currently in love with brussel sprouts. So easy and quick and warm. Plus, they take two seconds and make an awesome little snack. I like mine extra crispy, per usual.

A little bit of olive oil (or coconut oil) in a pan. A pinch of garlic salt, black pepper, and sea salt. Fire that burner up and constantly toss. You need a deep pan on you'll end up like Jessica Simpson on Newlyweds when she tried to make Nick dinner. Hot sparks flying everywhere!

Just wanted to check in and tell you how pumped I am for all of you on the Challenge.

Ps- I'll be at Advonation in Cincinnati this weekend! I hope I see some familiar faces!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Ahhh…. I've never been so happy to start the 24 Day Challenge in all of my days. I was bummed that I didn't get to start on Wednesday with the rest of you 90,000 or some odd challengers. However, I knew I had way too many reasons to stray between Wednesday and today so made an executive decision to wait.

You guys, I basically feel like I've been involved in one big party/eating frenzy/ free for all that basically started on Thanksgiving Eve and ended last night.

Oh, plus I've been outta hand with the peanut butter. Like way more than normal. And as much as a love that delicious, tan goodness, overconsumption never equals good.

In turn, I've been doing a little of this…..

And then swooning at this…..

I've been eating clean 100% of the time…hmmm…..about 65% of the time…..

You do the math. In my defense, my workouts have been on point, I've been drinking copious amounts of water, and using my regular products like a boss.

Howevs, it doesn't take long for the other stuff to catch up. And well, I woke up today feeling less than stellar.

So last night… last hurrah for the longest birthday celebration ever. Ma girls.

And today….a monumental grocery haul…two monkeys in tow….ice storm on the way…. It was super relaxing at that grocery store… but you already knew that.

It appeared that all of the midwest was preparing to be iced in for 19 days and nights. I did get the last bin of organic spinach though so hells yes on that.

Totally.

Oh and then this happened…

Ya feel?

Let's get down to biz. Back to my story…I woke up today and couldn't suck down that Fiber Drink fast enough.

Lots of food prep and meal planning went down. This sounds scary, I realize but I swear it takes me about 75 minutes if I'm focused.

Sooo easy! I subbed the coconut oil for a splash of olive oil. I did this simply because I'm out of coconut oil.

However, I followed the rest of the recipe.

I also threw it on the George Foreman for a couple minutes right before serving it. Mainly because I like a little crisp. And crisp it did.

Her beautiful pic….

And mine…

Bah!!!! #nailedit! Just kidding. I swear this tasted a zillion times better than it looks. The top was Cris-Pay! and I love that. She's not pretty but I promise you the flavor was awesome.

A side of greens with baby cucumber and tomato. Drizzled with balsamic. A small sweet potato with a sprinkle of cinnamon. #allthecinnamon And ps- I obvi forgot to add the rosemary topper before I took the pic.

Clearly I would be fired as a food blogger approximately 28 minutes into the job. Zero doubt.

So yes, put this recipe on your rotation. Seriously.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

And ps-

614 friends…can I get an O-H!?!?

An oldie but goodie...Take us back…warmth, 20 mile run, the horseshoe, game day… #bsmh

Thursday, January 8, 2015

It's been a minute since I stole my girl Jen's Thursday Thoughts button. So let's do dis.

1. Ummm…. my ALL IN 24 Day Challenge peeps are already killing it. This I know for sure. Still want in? There is still time. Want a discount? Still time for that too. You guys know the drill….advocarerunner1@gmail.com.

I'm back on the clean eating plan big time but am not starting the full challenge until Monday. I have more birthday celebrations this weekend. I know. A wise friend just told me that I'm gonna be 41 by the time I'm done celebrating this 40th birthday, 'o mine. Yes. And???

2. This is currently happening.

See that part in the middle of the state where it says Columbus with a 4? As in degrees? 4 degrees? As in 1,2,3,4…? My house is right there. Basically I live on the 4. And it's 4 in the middle of the day. Not at 5 a.m. At 5 a.m. it's negative 10. Or something else ridic.

3. Sooo I had the pleasure of going to a Serbian Christmas celebration last night and what a cool experience that turned out to be. Basically the Christian (Serbian) Orthodox religion celebrates Christmas on January 7th, just like my/ our December 25th. It's a production for sure. The food, the noise, the homemade vino, the cheer, the openness, the traditions..

The meat…. Copious amounts of it. Yes, please, thanks.

Almost like my beloved Schwarma, only bettah. And I'm pretty sure it had been cooking for days.

Such a fun experience. And by the end, I think I almost had myself convinced that I'm Serbian too. Kinda not kidding.

As an adult, I've attended and currently attend a mostly non-denomonimational Christian-based church. Christian traditions, if you will. So cool to see inside the Christmas celebration of something so different than what I know.

Readers…do any of you practice anything of the such? There are bloggy readers as far away as China (can ya believe that?) up in here. Certainly we've got somethin'.

So there is an option to do it all on your own, an option to split it with a parter, or an option to run 3 or 4 man teams.

My problem is that I'm #certifiable and won't be satisfied unless I do it all on my own.

My other problem is that I really don't have the time or desire to run 2,015 miles when I live by the 4. (see above).

However, some of this could be done on the dready. It's Jan 8th and I've already logged 33 miles. So that's only 1,982 to go…. technically...

The bottom line…..

A) Is anyone else that is also kinda crazy considering this?

B) I need to decide like yesterday because again, it's already January 8th.

C) I kinda want someone to tell me to "just do it" so I can sign up and stop thinking about it.

5. Who is watching the Bachelor?

Why am I watching the Bachelor? I could have sworn I outgrew this. But suddenly, there they are. All pretty in their red dresses and I need to see what's happening. And my girl Jen that I steal the button from already googled the winner. Can you believe this? Kinda reminds me of my other friend who googles the results of the Olympics well before they air. In fact, I'll bet Jen does this too.